PR News and BurrellesLuce surveyed more than 400 PR execs to take the pulse of measurement activities, in turn uncovering a few inconsistencies: Nearly 25% of respondents' C-
level management does not require measurement, and those who do are most interested in learning about the volume of coverage. This is troubling, considering that volume of
coverage is known to be an insufficient measure. But there are bright spots:
"The survey results [suggest] senior management's growing understanding that
success can't be tallied by counting buckets of clips," says Carol Holden, BurrelleseLuce
director of operations, media measurement. "Plus, 25% of respondents believe
successful delivery of key messages through targeted media is the best measure
of value."
| PR Measurement Survey: Taking the Pulse Total
User Reponses: 401 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Question | % of Total | |
| 1. | In your experience as a PR professional,
which one of the following criteria do you most frequently use to evaluate your PR programs? (Select up to 3) |
|
| Meet or exceed stated objectives |
24.4%
|
|
| Deliver key messages through targeted media |
23.3%
|
|
| Raise awareness |
17.2%
|
|
| Generate a high clip volume |
12.6%
|
|
| Improve attitudes/Preference |
9.2%
|
|
| Boost sales |
8.6%
|
|
| Benchmark against competitors |
2.8%
|
|
| 2. | In your opinion and using the same list
before, which one of the following do you consider to be the most meaningful way to evaluate PR? (select up to 2) |
|
| Meet or exceed stated objectives |
26.9%
|
|
| Deliver key messages through targeted media |
23.6%
|
|
| Raise awareness |
15.8%
|
|
| Improve attitudes/Preference |
13.9%
|
|
| Boost sales |
10.4%
|
|
| Generate a high clip volume |
5.2%
|
|
| Benchmark against competitors |
2.7%
|
|
| 3. | Does C-level management require you to measure
and report on PR activities (news coverage, progress of campaigns)? |
|
| Yes |
75.4%
|
|
| No |
24.3%
|
|
| No Response |
0.3%
|
|
| a. If yes, what are they most interested
in learning? |
||
| No Response |
24.3%
|
|
| Volume of coverage |
23.8%
|
|
| Content (tone and key message delivery) |
21.6%
|
|
| Ad value |
8.8%
|
|
| Share of voice vs. competitors |
6.0%
|
|
| Competitive intelligence (gather data on
competitors) |
1.0%
|
|
| ROI |
0.8%
|
|
| 4. | When do you establish your measurement objectives? | |
| Prior to beginning a campaign or project |
71.9%
|
|
| We apply the same measurement criteria to
all projects |
14.8%
|
|
| During the campaign |
4.5%
|
|
| After the coverage is collected |
4.0%
|
|
| No Response |
0.8%
|
|
| 5. | What is the #1 measurement challenge you
face on a regular basis? |
|
| Financial resources |
27.1%
|
|
| Proving PR's worth to the C-suite |
23.6%
|
|
| Not knowing exactly what to measure |
16.8%
|
|
| People resources |
15.0%
|
|
| Measuring digital communications |
14.5%
|
|
| No Response |
3.0%
|
|
Souce: PR News & BurrellesLuce, copyright 2007.